Too much nitty gritty for my liking

You couldn’t but be entertained by the show Kilkenny and Galway put on yesterday although there far too many schmozzles.

In the first half, there were four or five and in the second half there were two. The hurling was great to watch but these repeated bouts of fighting are not what anybody wants to see and action should be taken to nip them in the bud.

It was a game in which Kilkenny appeared to win frees easier. I’m talking about TJ Reid’s in the seventh minute, Kieran Joyce a minute later and Richie Hogan in the 54th minute. But especially the 24th minute when they were awarded one for a fair shoulder by Jason Flynn on Brian Kennedy, a free from which Eoin Larkin scored a goal.

The public time clock is set to come in next April but I can see it leading to a lot of confusion in the final stages of games like yesterday’s where every second counts.

There were two minutes of additional time at the end of normal time and Henry Shefflin’s point sailed over the bar at exactly 71:57 minutes. Joe Canning sent over the equaliser at precisely 72:20 minutes and the game was called to an end at 72:30. When the public clock comes in, there will be no time for Canning’s score. It’s not by any means a criticism of Johnny Ryan’s time-keeping but that’s what ahead of us.

Football-wise, it was generally a good weekend from the referees’ perspective. On Saturday in Sligo, Maurice Deegan’s positioning and fitness to play on and allow Danny Cummins fist a point for Galway when on first viewing it appeared Ross Donovan had fouled him — he hadn’t — was excellent.

I was in Celtic Park on Saturday evening for the Derry-Longford game and a black card was given to Aidan McAlynn in the 13th minute, seemingly for pulling down Aidan Rowan with him as he was in possession. Only TV replays would prove or disprove Martin Higgins’ decision.

In the last attack of the game and Derry two points down, James Kielt was fouled by Shane Mulligan but Higgins allowed play to continue and there was no advantage signalled.

Just on a general point about the black card, I would suggest the wording about the fouls that merit a black card has to be altered at Congress next year.

The reason I say this is the definition of the black cards are too precise. That mightn’t sound like such a bad thing but nowhere in the five categorised fouls is the word “cynical” mentioned. There should be a black card for any cynical behaviour.

It’s far too difficult for referees on one viewing to see if these fouls are being committed. For the other cynical fouls not covered by the black card, I would hazard a guess and say right now that referees are 70% of the time writing up players for yellow cards under the foul 5.3, any other form of rough play.

Finally, Tony Jordan, a great mentor to me and several Leinster referees, passed away over the weekend. He was a shrewd assessor and made a massive contribution to refereeing in the province over the last 30 years. My sympathies to his family.